September 20, 2012

Big news this week – Autodesk Revit LT 2013 and the AutoCAD Revit LT Suite 2013 are now available for purchase on the Autodesk eStore in both North America and Europe. They’re currently English-only, but I understand a German-language version will be available soon.

I had a couple requests for an expanded post on the capabilities of Revit LT and its comparison to Revit, so it seems like a good time to do that—considering you’re now able to actually go out and buy it. :-)

All the advantages of a single, coordinated model. Imagine working with beams, walls, and doors that know what they are, and aren’t just lines on a screen. Change an element in one view, and all views that show that element will also automatically updates. It’s like magic.

Visualize in 3D, then document in 2D. The world is 3D, even though we often represent it in 2D. Get the best of both worlds here, when you’re able to see exactly how things fit together in three dimensions, then automatically generate the necessary 2D views.

Automatic Schedule Generation. With Revit LT, your schedule contents are driven by the elements in your model, helping reduce the amount of time you have to spend to make sure that keynotes and references are kept up to date.

Photorealistic Cloud Rendering. If you add Subscription to your Revit LT purchase, you’ll get access to Autodesk 360 Rendering that you can use to produce compelling visual images of your designs. Apply materials and add lighting elements (sun or artificial) to see what your projects will look like before they’re complete—and in a fraction of the time it would take to render the same image on a single desktop machine.

And here are some Revit-only features:

Simultaneous editing of models (but you can link models in Revit LT)

In-product photorealistic & ray trace rendering

Conceptual massing & in-place modeling

Interference checks & copy/monitor

Point cloud import

Energy analysis

API access

Network licensing

Revit LT is designed for those of you out there who are thinking about the move to BIM, but maybe aren’t ready for or don’t need some of the items on that second list.

If you’re not sure whether you’re ready or not, that’s what the trial is for!

September 18, 2012

No, that’s not a typo in the header. I’m taking a slight detour today to post about an international charity organization whose mission is “to engage, amaze and inspire the community to work together raising canned food to feed hundreds of thousands of hungry people.”

Canstruction is a series of events where members of the local architecture & engineering community team up with grocery stores to collect canned goods and use them to build some absolutely amazing sculptures, helping to raise awareness of hunger issues.

Here’s a link to their upcoming events, in case there’s one near you. (If there is, you should definitely pay a visit.)

I took a field trip last week to the Washington, DC, event not only to admire the local ingenuity but also to test out the new 123D Catch for iPhone (more on that later).

Here’s one of my favorites (sorry for the blur):

Perkins + Will, “A Colorful Meal of Golden Proportions”

I loved not only the shape and color of this (it’s the basilica in St. Petersburg!), but also that they brought evidence of their planning:

See? There’s a CAD connection after all.

Perkins + Will weren’t the only ones to pre-model their sculpture. AECOM used Revit for their Liberty torch, but they didn’t display the sheets after the sculpture was done. (Anybody from AECOM want to send me some images? I’ll be happy to post them!)

September 12, 2012

“You can’t always get what you want / But if you try sometimes, you might find / You get what you need.”

The Rolling Stones weren’t talking about software documentation when they wrote that, but occasionally I think they could have been. Help files aren’t always exactly what you want. Sometimes they don’t even have what you need—or they do but you can’t find it.

Fire up the F1 key in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT today, and you’ll see our redesigned Help welcome page.

It’s got a whole host of new features, most of which are based directly on user feedback. (All new content is English-only right now, with additional languages for many elements to be added later.) This new version of Help includes links to commands, system variables, the glossary, and FAQs; search filters to narrow down topic results; and possibly my favorite—the Hitchhiker’s Guide to AutoCAD.

This brand-new feature is a guided tour through 42 (get it?) of the commands and tools you need to create 2D drawings in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

Check it out for yourself, and I think you’ll see the Stones were wrong—sometimes you can get what you want!

September 06, 2012

Missed yesterday’s Take the Lead virtual event? It’s okay—the videos and presentations are still available for on-demand viewing.

I didn’t count the number of sessions, but it’s a LOT, and they’re all from your favorite Autodesk presenters. If you’re in Architecture, Construction, Infrastructure, MEP, Structural, Oil & Gas, or Utilities, there’s probably something there interesting for you.

Since the live event is over, you can’t chat with Autodesk reps in the event space, but each presenter has their contact info at the end of the session, so you’ll know where to turn if you have questions.

September 05, 2012

If you’ve been considering the move to BIM, but held back because of the complexity or price tag of Autodesk Revit, do we have an announcement for you!

Revit LT, formerly known as Project Spark, has graduated from Autodesk Labs and will be available for purchase soon in North America and select countries worldwide.

Revit LT is built on the Revit platform, and includes many of the features available in the full version, including the powerful, intelligent 3D tools, structural modeling objects, and access to Autodesk 360 Rendering.

When the product is released, you’ll be able to purchase it separately or as part of the new AutoCAD Revit LT Suite, which includes both Autodesk Revit LT and AutoCAD LT. In the U.S., the SRP for these are $1200 and $1500 respectively, so it’s a heck of a deal either way!

Product availability will vary by country, so be sure to visit www.autodesk.com/revitlt for details and purchasing options.

September 04, 2012

Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope you’re all refreshed and relaxed after yesterday’s Labor Day holiday. (For those of you who didn’t have the day off, I hope you had a good day anyway, and please feel free to point out the next holiday you get that we don’t.)

At any rate, what better way to get your brain back in gear than with a virtual event?

I’m presenting on AutoCAD LT and the AutoCAD Design Suite (so of course you’ll watch those, right? Thanks), but there will also be a whole slew of presentations on Building, Construction, Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, and Utilities solutions from some of Autodesk’s best industry experts.

So whatever your field or industry, there will be something there for you.